𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 | 𝐝.𝐦.

thirty two

A flurry of two months have rolled by.

They were one of the most disastrous, blight period that has worn Betty's family by.

Since Dumbledore's death and her family's departure from that bale prison, she has managed to undergo - she thinks - all mischance of life.

From the four of them, occasionally sleeping on benches and fields of muggle residence, earning revolted, disparaging looks from the working adults every morning.

To them breaking into muggle apartments when they've heard that their owners are out of town - it started once when Betty had heard of a muggle lady speaking of going on vacation to her colleagues, and she promised herself it would only happen once until her mother was feeling restful, but it became habitual for a couple of weeks - which taught Betty and Josette how to clear their tracks when they leave.

To the piteous family finally finding a rutty, tarnished home, abandoned at the south corner of the town, void of magic. Rarely anyone stumbles across the little house, which makes it perfect for Betty and her family.

It took them a couple of scanty weeks to adjust to their new accommodation, especially with Theodore making a fuss about how shady and malodorous the house was - it was near an array of factories that emit smoke every second, hence it's solitary.

Betty tried to make the best of what they have, tried to help her siblings fit in with their living, tried to help her mother replenish her sacred memory - which hasn't worked, but she is still trying because she can't bring herself to give up on Juliette.

Her sister, Josette would bring up the topic of how lavish the lifestyle in Malfoy Manor was and how it wouldn't hurt to return to their father, but that would always set Betty into a spiral and she would chide her sister until one of them walks away and return the next day.

Theodore, witnessing this, tried not to butt in as much as he could. He was on a neutral stand, with matters about Joseph. He does wish that he had a father in his life, but he didn't want to broach the topic to Betty either, afraid he might end up like Josette.

Juliette's condition wasn't getting better no matter how delicate and patient her children were with her. Josette's main obligation was to keep an eye on their mother, assist the ailing woman with whatever she needed, and made sure that she was at as much ease and rest she could be at.

While Betty would shuffle around the house, bearing the rest of the chores like cooking up food and stealing some from the city when she can - it wasn't such a tough job with magic, the harder part was how to steer clear of the ministry tracking her down.

Although, she doubts the ministry bothers much about her use of underaged magic. The department was too tangled up in their own business, trying not to be infiltrated by Voldemort.

Things have gotten a million times worse, since Dumbledore's fall and Voldemort's rise, as Betty had expected.

She finds herself worrying about the wizarding world and her friends every time she feels a sparse freedom in her time - which is very rarely - but she always dismisses it, knowing she wasn't much part of it anymore.

If she isn't sitting on the rumpty rocking chair, fretting about the Wizarding world, she'd be in the cramped corner of her room - which she shares with her mother -, staring at the camera that's enclosed, dusty with months of neglect.

She'd returned to school one day, while she knew that everyone would be away from the castle - which was during Dumbledore's funeral - to retrieve her things.

And hesitantly, she had packed the camera with her, stored it delicately in the same box it came with, tethered together with the prim red ribbon, of course.